On June 27th, the Facebook page of the ‘Free Channel’ aired a story claiming that amid the recent success of Russian troops in Ukraine, Boris Johnson has offered political asylum to Zelenskyy in the UK. The story also asserted that Johnson said he would consider inviting the Ukrainian president to pay an official visit to the UK.
The claim that Boris Johnson offers political asylum to Volodymyr Zelenskyy is false. In fact, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom made the statement only regarding the official visit of the President of Ukraine and not on political asylum. Johnson said it would be an honor for Britain to receive the President of Ukraine when he deems it necessary, while members of the British government will consider Zelenskyy’s invitation not now but in October.
In Free Channel’s story, Boris Johnson’s desire to invite the President of Ukraine to the UK was presented as if the PM was offering political asylum to Zelenskyy, citing “the recent success of Russian forces in Ukraine” as the primary reason behind it.
In fact, when asked if he would like to offer the Ukrainian leader a visit to the country, Johnson replied: “If he ever becomes free to leave and it makes sense for him to leave Ukraine, then obviously the UK would be only too honoured to host him.” The question was not about granting political asylum to Zelenskyy, nor did Boris Johnson ever talk about it.
The British Prime Minister spoke about Ukraine at the G7 summit in Bavaria, where he also noted that the most important issue now is to unite to help President Zelensky, who is perfectly leading his country in this terrible time.
The story also notes that other members of the British parliament were planning to invite Zelenskyy to the UK, under which a visit with the Queen was also considered.
The Sunday Times reported on a similar initiative by UK ministers. According to Ukrainian media, the visit is scheduled for October.
The article has been written in the framework of Facebook’s fact-checking program. You can read more about the restrictions that Facebook may impose based on this article via this link. You can find information about appealing or editing our assessment via this link.
Read detailed instructions for editing the article.
Read detailed appeal instructions.
